Even the Federal Bureau of Investigation is getting into the Halloween spirit.

The FBI released a trove of pictures and videos Monday detailing Operation Ghost Stories – a secret, decade-long surveillance of Russian spies who lived in the U.S. trying to gather sensitive information about the U.S. government.

One video shows the most notorious of the suspects – Anna Chapman – meeting with an undercover agent in a New York City coffee shop.

Another video, secretly recorded in 2004, shows spy suspect Christopher Metsos conducting what spies call a “brush pass’’ in the covered stairway of a train station. He and another man are seen swapping identical orange shopping bags. The FBI said the exchange, which lasts only seconds, delivered cash to the spy, which he then shared with other spies in the network.

Ms. Chapman was among a group of 10 Russian spies arrested last year in one of the most high-profile espionage cases in decades. The suspects were called “illegals’’ – a term for agents who sneak into the target country, assume an everyday local identity, and try to cultivate relationships and sources that will generate valuable information about U.S. policy making for the home country. FBI agents who dug into their assumed identities eventually determined they worked for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR. Mr. Metsos left the U.S. before the arrests.

After their arrests in June 2010, the suspects ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiring to serve as unlawful agents of the Russian Federation within the U.S. In a throwback to Cold War-era deals, they were then swapped for a number of Western spies imprisoned in Russia.

Much of the surveillance was conducted in everyday New York City locations, such as a street corner in Brooklyn and Columbus Circle in Manhattan, where two of the spies met. Video also shows one of the spies digging up a “dead drop’’ package hidden under some bushes. The videos and still photographs show how intently U.S. agents tracked the suspects as they traveled around the U.S.

The video, images, and documents were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, but many of the documents are heavily redacted. In releasing the images, the FBI said the evidence shows how other countries are willing to devote large amounts of money, material, and personnel to stealing U.S. secrets.

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Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.